The military is to require volunteer service members to pledge that they hold no other citizenship, after reports that the mother of a navy sailor made him a Chinese national without his knowledge.
The Ministry of National Defense is to issue a document pledging that volunteers do not possess citizenship of another nation before allowing them to join the military, top officers told a routine news conference in Taipei yesterday.
A sailor surnamed Yang (楊) who serves in the 168th Fleet had obtained a Chinese identification card, the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) reported on Monday, citing sources connected to an ongoing probe by the Investigation Bureau.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
The sailor’s mother — a Chinese national who gained residency via marriage — had apparently acted without informing Yang, Navy Chief of Staff Vice Admiral Chiu Chun-jung (邱俊榮) said.
Military brass and ministry officials are working on the pledge and making improvements to the vetting system to ensure Taiwan remains the only nationality of volunteers, he said.
Yang joined the navy in April 2020 and formerly served on a Chi Yang-class frigate, but has since been transferred to “a posting that involves fewer sensitive missions,” Chiu said.
The military is working with the National Immigration Agency (NIA) to determine Yang’s next steps, as the man has expressed a wish to renounce his Chinese citizenship, he added.
Legal residents of China are not allowed to serve in the Taiwanese government or military, said army Major General Cheng Chia-chi (成家麒), who heads the human resources division at the ministry’s Department of Resource and Planning.
The rule is stipulated in the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Nationality Act (國籍法) and regulations governing the employment of government personnel, he said.
These laws exist for a good reason, as volunteer military personnel are duty-bound to serve the nation, Cheng said.
People with dual citizenship or legal status in China are disqualified from joining the armed forces under existing regulations, said army Colonel Huang Ming-chun (黃銘君), who serves in the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Personnel.
Separately on Tuesday, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) reiterated that active military personnel and civil servants who apply for Chinese identity documents would face the full force of the law, including potentially being stripped of citizenship.
“The MAC has recently convened meetings with relevant agencies and instructed them to promote awareness that active military personnel, civil servants and public-school teachers are prohibited from applying for household registration in China, as well as Chinese ID cards, permanent residence permits or residence permits,” the council said in a statement.
Those breaching the cross-strait act would face the full force of the law, it added.
That includes having their household registration canceled and losing their citizenship, the act stipulates.
It also stipulates that they cannot undergo military service or hold public office.
The Naval Fleet Command in a news release on Monday said that the sailor had informed the navy that his mother had obtained a Chinese ID card for him without his knowledge.
The command said it has assisted Yang in applying to the NIA expressing his intent to retain his Taiwanese nationality.
The command added that the NIA “preliminarily classified” Yang as a special case and said it would “handle subsequent matters per the NIA’s review findings and legal procedures.”
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
OBJECTS AT SEA: Satellites with synthetic-aperture radar could aid in the detection of small Chinese boats attempting to illegally enter Taiwan, the space agency head said Taiwan aims to send the nation’s first low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite into space in 2027, while the first Formosat-8 and Formosat-9 spacecraft are to be launched in October and 2028 respectively, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council laid out its space development plan in a report reviewed by members of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee. Six LEO satellites would be produced in the initial phase, with the first one, the B5G-1A, scheduled to be launched in 2027, the council said in the report. Regarding the second satellite, the B5G-1B, the government plans to work with private contractors
‘NARWHAL’: The indigenous submarine completed its harbor acceptance test recently and is now under heavy guard as it undergoes tests in open waters, a source said The Hai Kun (海鯤), the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, yesterday began sea trials, sailing out of the Port of Kaohsiung, a military source said. Also known as the “Narwhal,” the vessel departed from CSBC Corp, Taiwan’s (台灣國際造船) shipyard at about 8am, where it had been docked. More than 10 technicians and military personnel were on deck, with several others standing atop the sail. After recently completing its harbor acceptance test, the vessel has started a series of sea-based trials, including tests of its propulsion and navigational systems, while partially surfaced, the source said. The Hai Kun underwent tests in the port from
MISSION: The Indo-Pacific region is ‘the priority theater,’ where the task of deterrence extends across the entire region, including Taiwan, the US Pacific Fleet commander said The US Navy’s “mission of deterrence” in the Indo-Pacific theater applies to Taiwan, Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Stephen Koehler told the South China Sea Conference on Tuesday. The conference, organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is an international platform for senior officials and experts from countries with security interests in the region. “The Pacific Fleet’s mission is to deter aggression across the Western Pacific, together with our allies and partners, and to prevail in combat if necessary, Koehler said in the event’s keynote speech. “That mission of deterrence applies regionwide — including the South China Sea and Taiwan,” he
RSS